Carmelo Anthony may have to carry the load until Amar'e Stoudemire returns

View full sizeRich Barnes/US PresswireKnicks' small forward Carmelo Anthony (right) may have to carry more of the scoring load until Amar'e Stoudemire recovers from his ruptured knee cyst

Knicks' head coach Mike Woodson has had his team working tirelessly on the defensive end during practice drills and scrimmages, but his real concern just may be on the offensive end now that the Knicks will be without Amar'e Stoudemire indefinitely.

Outside of Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony is the only viable offensive threat, which just adds more stress to the brilliant small forward who's been trying to adapt to Woodson's equal-opportunity offense. While Woodson's new-look offense still utilizes the same pick-and-roll principles that his predecessor, Mike D'Antoni, used in his uptempo attack, it still differs in other facets. One key change has been Woodson's insistence that the ball swings to the open man by having guys make the extra pass. No longer will Anthony be allowed to camp out on the mid-range perimeter and hold the ball until he decides to heave a shot.

But with no real complement to Anthony's game, the irony is that Woodson may in fact have to go back to that offense at times, especially when a possession bogs down and Anthony looks to bail out his teammates.

Once known as a proud and noted gunner, Anthony admitted he'd now rather share the ball and not rely so much on 30-point games.

“I think now it’s just, we’ve got to find it [scoring] from other places. I don’t think we just can rely on myself and J.R. [Smith] to do all the scoring,” Anthony said. “I think now we have guys, the way we’re starting to play, the way we’ve been playing this preseason, [that] scoring’s been coming from everywhere. Guys have just been contributing that way.”

Anthony can only hope guys like Smith can chip in on a regular basis, because without Stoudemire's 17.5 points per game last year, someone will have to pick up the slack. Anthony led the team with 22.6 points per game last season, while Smith notched 12.5 per -- good for fourth.

Last season, the Knicks averaged more points in their 19 games without Stoudemire (99.1) than in the 47 with him (97.4), but that's not the recipe Woodson is looking for as he tries to cook up a plan that'll balance out the scoring load.

“Amar’e is a big piece of the puzzle, make no mistake about that [because] he brings offense, rebounding, [and] a number of things to our ball club. We’re going to miss him," Woodson said, hoping others step up to balance out Anthony's scoring. "But until he gets back, it gives other guys an opportunity to step up and play. That’s what I’m going to be pushing guys to do. ... I think our team is a little bit deeper than what we had last year."

Woodson and the Knicks can only hope that is so. Meanwhile, Anthony will have a nightly inner struggle in balancing between whether the team needs him to play well with others, or revert back to his old gunner style.